Facebook Whistleblower: "Zuckerberg Should Step Down as CEO"

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Suhwan] A whistleblower from Meta, the world's largest social media company (formerly Facebook), has demanded that CEO Mark Zuckerberg step down from his position.

On the 1st (local time), CNBC reported that Frances Haugen, former lead project manager at Facebook, responded "Yes" when asked at the IT conference 'Web Summit' held in Lisbon, Portugal, whether CEO Zuckerberg should resign.

She said, "If he (Zuckerberg) remains CEO, I don't think the company will change," adding, "I hope he realizes that there are many good things he can do in this world, and perhaps it might be an opportunity for someone else to take the reins of the company."

Haugen also stated, "Making mistakes does not make him a bad person," but added, "However, continuing to make the same bad mistakes even after knowing they are mistakes is unacceptable."

She further added, "I have faith that he can change."

Haugen pointed out that it is difficult to remove CEO Zuckerberg due to Facebook's dual-class stock structure that grants differential voting rights, but said shareholders should have the power to choose the CEO.

Facebook issued Class A and Class B shares. Class A shares traded on the stock market carry one vote per share, while Class B shares held by Zuckerberg and other insiders carry ten votes per share.

Thanks to holding Class B shares, Zuckerberg owns less than half of the total shares but holds a majority of the voting rights.

After leaving Facebook in April this year, Haugen became a whistleblower by leaking thousands of pages of internal documents called the 'Facebook Papers' to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Congress, and the media, revealing Facebook's dark side.

According to the Facebook Papers, Facebook prioritized profits and did not improve its algorithm, which easily spreads harmful information. It was also reported that Facebook was aware of the mental harm its social networking service (SNS) caused to minors but still planned to push forward with launching an Instagram service for minors.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.